The present invention relates to a test gas leakage detection apparatus comprising a test chamber and supply and measuring devices such as fore-pumps and high-vacuum pumps, test gas detector and electronic components, etc.
From the international publication WO 98/16 809 a test gas leakage detection apparatus of this kind is known. It serves the purpose of detecting leakages in the packages of packaged items, be they food stuffs, pharmaceuticals, non-reusable items used in the area of medicine etc. Such leakage detection apparatus are being employed on production lines. The packages of the tightly sealed products are sampled at random for leakages.
It has been found to be expedient that a leakage detection apparatus of the kind affected here be mobile, i.e. it must be possible to easily move the entire system (test chamber, supply and measuring devices) to a different location. After a change in the location of the leakage detection apparatus, it shall be possible to start it up without the necessity of having to provide complex connections to external supplying equipmentxe2x80x94with the exception of the electrical power supply.
The present invention is based on the task of creating a leakage detection apparatus of the aforementioned kind, which meets the requirements detailed.
This task is solved by the present invention, by combining the test chamber as well as the supply and measuring devices in a modular unit, where the test chamber is supported on a housing in which all components of the supply and measuring devices are accommodated, and in which thermally critical components of the measuring and supply devices are assigned to air cooling devices.
A test gas leakage detection apparatus having these features may be built to be compact and mobilexe2x80x94on castors, for examplexe2x80x94without the risk of thermally critical components attaining unacceptably high temperatures. Owing to the air cooling devices, the test gas leakage detection apparatus according to the present invention is independent of other cooling means.